FA+
Shop
Review: Murderman v. Hypocrite: Dawn of Destruction
9 years ago
Taking a load off.
Before I get started, let me make this much clear: I love DC Comics. I grew up in the ‘90s when the DC animated universe was tearing things up on the small screen hit-after-hit series headed by artist Bruce Timm and writer Paul Dini. The first graphic novel I bought was Batman: The Long Halloween; one of the first DVDs I bought when I opened by Amazon.com account was the two-disc special edition of Tim Burton’s Batman along with Richard Donner’s Superman. In 2008 I was there for the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight (the first of six screenings I’d catch in cinemas). Aside from Spider-Man, Marvel Comics didn’t enter my consciousness until the launch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
It’s from this place of love for DC Comics, WB, and their characters that I say Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice is one of the greatest creative misfires in cinematic history. It's an oppressively glum film, with bland, unlikable characters guided by a director who’s more concerned with lining up cool shots for the trailer than telling a coherent narrative in a package that's honestly hard to sit through (you could have never told me 5 years ago a Batman/Superman movie could be this boring). What makes this even worse is that, rather than being a strange studio gamble, this was one of the most highly anticipated films of the decade, and will now hang as the albatross around the neck of all future DC Comics film adaptations.
Some of the film’s problems can be explained away by the fact that it was cut down from an original 3+ hour run time. Even so, that doesn’t excuse the film from being one of the most slipshod affairs you’ll ever see. Scenes exist independently of one another lacking any form of transition, or setup. There’s this scene where Batman’s chasing some goons, turns a corner, and BOOM: There’s Superman standing there. No, we don’t know how long Superman’s been waiting around for this, or why he didn’t care to stop any of the criminals Batman was chasing in this sequence. Zack Snyder just thought this would be a cool image (this seems to be Zack Snyder’s approach to every feature in his filmography).
That’s not to say everything is bad. There are some good sequences, I can give the film that. For all the shit I give him, Zack Snyder does usually have three or four scenes I enjoy in each of his movies. Here, the opening sequence with Bruce Wayne running through Metropolis during the Superman/Zod fight from Man of Steel is first rate. No one can deny that Zack Snyder has a good eye for action. The problem is that everything between the action sequences is pure tedium. I’m not exaggerating when I say I began dozing off three times during this movie. While the action at the end of the film is well executed, I was too drained by the experience to care.
I can’t help but feel sorry for Ben Affleck. He’s been having a career renaissance these past couple of years, both as an actor and director with stellar films such as The Town and the Best Picture winning Argo. As Batman, Affleck is BvS’s one revelation: He’s really freaking good. I’m sorry that he couldn’t have launched his portrayal of the character in a better film. If not for awful characterization of Batman provided by the film’s script he could have easily emerged as the definitive actor in the role.
Henry Cavil has a good Superman in him, I’m sure of that; maybe not as good as Christopher Reeve, but a good one. Once again, he’s held back by Zack Snyder’s complete lack of understanding for the character of Superman. All Superman does in this film is make dramatic entrances into scenes (usually by hovering over people in slow-motion before descending), and brooding.
I don’t want to sound like a broken record, since I’ve ranted and raved about all these issues before in Man of Steel, but here these problems need to be repeated. In every comic where Batman and Superman have fought it’s been a contest between ideology; dark versus light; hope against despair. There’s none of that in Batman v. Superman. This Superman isn’t an optimistic figure who wishes to bring out the best in humanity. Through the lens of Zack Snyder these two are essentially the same bloody character.
You can’t write a universe where Superman constantly resorts to violence, but wags his finger at Batman for his brutal vigilantism. Likewise, you can’t have a Batman who guns down countless goons taking the moral high ground. These two should be sharing beers and laughing over their kill counts, not arguing moral superiority.
Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman -thankfully- emerges unscathed from this brooding, overly serious nonsense Supes and Bats have been burdened with, and offers some of the film's few bright spots. Given what I've seen of Zack Snyder this probably has everything to do with him not having enough time to screw her up.
Then there's Jesse Eisenberg as “Alexander” Luthor. What drunk writing session did little Alexander Luthor crawl out of? I sincerely want to know. This character is the poster child for everything that is wrong with this motion picture. I can’t even blame Eisenberg much for it. This is clearly the performance Zack Snyder wanted him to give. He seems more like a lost character from the Adam West Batman series than a credible threat in this dark, brooding world Snyder’s created. I constantly found myself smacking the side of my own head saying, “That couldn’t have just happened.”
But it did. It really did. (One of the film's "tense" scenes involves a jar of Luthor's piss... Some people seem to have enjoyed this bit, but I could hardly contain my laughter.)
At the end of the day none of these criticisms hurt worse than the fact that Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice simply isn’t a fun movie to watch. Failing to entertain on any worthwhile level is the greatest sin any movie can commit. Aside from Jesse Eisenberg, the film takes itself far too seriously to enjoy on a cheesy movie level, and too ridiculous to enjoy as a serious action movie.
Already the directors of Wonder Woman and Aquaman are coming out at cons promising fans that their movies will be fun. This is the hole Zack Snyder has dug for the DC Cinematic Universe. Warner Bros. needs to act, and they need to act fast if they want any hope of competing with Marvel.
It’s from this place of love for DC Comics, WB, and their characters that I say Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice is one of the greatest creative misfires in cinematic history. It's an oppressively glum film, with bland, unlikable characters guided by a director who’s more concerned with lining up cool shots for the trailer than telling a coherent narrative in a package that's honestly hard to sit through (you could have never told me 5 years ago a Batman/Superman movie could be this boring). What makes this even worse is that, rather than being a strange studio gamble, this was one of the most highly anticipated films of the decade, and will now hang as the albatross around the neck of all future DC Comics film adaptations.
Some of the film’s problems can be explained away by the fact that it was cut down from an original 3+ hour run time. Even so, that doesn’t excuse the film from being one of the most slipshod affairs you’ll ever see. Scenes exist independently of one another lacking any form of transition, or setup. There’s this scene where Batman’s chasing some goons, turns a corner, and BOOM: There’s Superman standing there. No, we don’t know how long Superman’s been waiting around for this, or why he didn’t care to stop any of the criminals Batman was chasing in this sequence. Zack Snyder just thought this would be a cool image (this seems to be Zack Snyder’s approach to every feature in his filmography).
That’s not to say everything is bad. There are some good sequences, I can give the film that. For all the shit I give him, Zack Snyder does usually have three or four scenes I enjoy in each of his movies. Here, the opening sequence with Bruce Wayne running through Metropolis during the Superman/Zod fight from Man of Steel is first rate. No one can deny that Zack Snyder has a good eye for action. The problem is that everything between the action sequences is pure tedium. I’m not exaggerating when I say I began dozing off three times during this movie. While the action at the end of the film is well executed, I was too drained by the experience to care.
I can’t help but feel sorry for Ben Affleck. He’s been having a career renaissance these past couple of years, both as an actor and director with stellar films such as The Town and the Best Picture winning Argo. As Batman, Affleck is BvS’s one revelation: He’s really freaking good. I’m sorry that he couldn’t have launched his portrayal of the character in a better film. If not for awful characterization of Batman provided by the film’s script he could have easily emerged as the definitive actor in the role.
Henry Cavil has a good Superman in him, I’m sure of that; maybe not as good as Christopher Reeve, but a good one. Once again, he’s held back by Zack Snyder’s complete lack of understanding for the character of Superman. All Superman does in this film is make dramatic entrances into scenes (usually by hovering over people in slow-motion before descending), and brooding.
I don’t want to sound like a broken record, since I’ve ranted and raved about all these issues before in Man of Steel, but here these problems need to be repeated. In every comic where Batman and Superman have fought it’s been a contest between ideology; dark versus light; hope against despair. There’s none of that in Batman v. Superman. This Superman isn’t an optimistic figure who wishes to bring out the best in humanity. Through the lens of Zack Snyder these two are essentially the same bloody character.
You can’t write a universe where Superman constantly resorts to violence, but wags his finger at Batman for his brutal vigilantism. Likewise, you can’t have a Batman who guns down countless goons taking the moral high ground. These two should be sharing beers and laughing over their kill counts, not arguing moral superiority.
Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman -thankfully- emerges unscathed from this brooding, overly serious nonsense Supes and Bats have been burdened with, and offers some of the film's few bright spots. Given what I've seen of Zack Snyder this probably has everything to do with him not having enough time to screw her up.
Then there's Jesse Eisenberg as “Alexander” Luthor. What drunk writing session did little Alexander Luthor crawl out of? I sincerely want to know. This character is the poster child for everything that is wrong with this motion picture. I can’t even blame Eisenberg much for it. This is clearly the performance Zack Snyder wanted him to give. He seems more like a lost character from the Adam West Batman series than a credible threat in this dark, brooding world Snyder’s created. I constantly found myself smacking the side of my own head saying, “That couldn’t have just happened.”
But it did. It really did. (One of the film's "tense" scenes involves a jar of Luthor's piss... Some people seem to have enjoyed this bit, but I could hardly contain my laughter.)
At the end of the day none of these criticisms hurt worse than the fact that Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice simply isn’t a fun movie to watch. Failing to entertain on any worthwhile level is the greatest sin any movie can commit. Aside from Jesse Eisenberg, the film takes itself far too seriously to enjoy on a cheesy movie level, and too ridiculous to enjoy as a serious action movie.
Already the directors of Wonder Woman and Aquaman are coming out at cons promising fans that their movies will be fun. This is the hole Zack Snyder has dug for the DC Cinematic Universe. Warner Bros. needs to act, and they need to act fast if they want any hope of competing with Marvel.
